April 20, 2021 — Governor Evers has proposed a budget that removes barriers to driver licenses for undocumented immigrants, allows undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition, provides additional resources for English language learner services in K-12 schools, and creates a Latinx outreach specialist at the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection.
April 6, 2021 — Governor Evers has proposed a budget that significantly increases aid for Wisconsin’s public schools, targets additional resources at identified needs, promotes racial equity, and limits the amount of public money that goes to private schools. His budget includes a $1.6 billion increase in total state support for public K-12 schools over the course of the two-year budget period, which runs through June 2023.
March 18, 2021 — Governor Evers has proposed an ambitious budget for health care that increases access to care and coverage by expanding BadgerCare, increases funding for hospitals and other providers, invests in maternal and infant health and health equity, and provides more support for public health. It also increases access to dental services, makes health insurance more affordable, invests in caregiving and the caregiver workforce, and recommends rate increases for behavioral providers as well as a regional approach to crisis support.
March 4, 2021 — The Governor’s budget proposes significant changes in tax policy, including closing income tax loopholes that favor the rich and powerful, and increasing tax credits for low-income households. These changes enable the budget to make large investments that will improve our state’s long-term prosperity, while also creating a tax system that provides a more level playing field for Wisconsin businesses and individuals.
November 12, 2020 — Our state and local tax code does not mention race. And yet it systematically demands that people of color pay a higher share of their income in taxes than white residents, showing that policies don’t have to explicitly mention race in order to have racially discriminatory consequences. The myth that the tax code “doesn’t see color” allows us to dismiss the role that tax policies have played in creating Wisconsin’s enormous racial disparities.
July 10, 2020 — Local government spending on law enforcement has significantly increased over the past two decades in Wisconsin, becoming the single biggest category of local spending. Black community leaders have called on policymakers to put that money to better use, shifting resources away from law enforcement and towards mental health services, housing, job assistance, and other services that strengthen communities.
April 16, 2020 — To help ease the disastrous health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Evers proposed legislation to make wide-ranging changes in the state’s public assistance programs, including budget increases and policy measures. This issue brief compares the Governor’s proposals relating to public assistance programs with the far narrower bill approved by the legislature.
April 15, 2020 — The recently developed federal stimulus package known as the CARES Act put in place an unprecedented amount of financial support for many workers who filed taxes in the United States. However, some groups have been excluded from this stimulus effort and others will have to jump through extra hoops to receive their benefit. For example, lawmakers completely excluded immigrant workers without Social Security numbers — and their families — from receiving the benefit, and they also put administrative hurdles in the way of those who did not file taxes in recent years. Another group of people that will be denied full stimulus payments are parents, specifically parents who owe the government for child support.
April 9, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic is creating severe economic hardship for many Wisconsinites, and especially for those who were already furthest from opportunity. It has helped reveal the stark disparities in our nation, particularly for people of color, because it has amplified the disparities and has given them potentially fatal consequences. To help ease the disastrous health and economic consequences of the pandemic, Governor Evers has proposed a number of budget increases and policy changes in the state’s public assistance programs.
February 18, 2020 — Wisconsin legislators are considering a bill that would double a capital gains tax break approved two years ago, which was intended to encourage very wealthy people to invest in “distressed” areas. Although that strategy for incentivizing investments in “Opportunity Zones” was well intended, commentators across the political spectrum have noted that implementation of the recently enacted tax incentives has gone off course and will primarily benefit rich Americans, rather than the residents of low-income communities.